Security investigators said on Tuesday that a helicopter pilot who crashed in Los Angeles last year, killing basketball star Kobe Bryant, his daughter and six others, flew through the clouds in an apparent breach of federal standards and likely he was disoriented.
Robert Sumwalt, president of the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB), said that pilot Ara Zobayan was flying under visual flight rules, which means he needed to be able to see where he was going.
Zobayan piloted the aircraft to climb sharply and nearly broke through the clouds when the Sikorsky S-76 helicopter abruptly toppled and plunged into the hills below, killing everyone on board.
The helicopter did not have so-called “black box” recording devices, which were not needed.
“I think the whole world is watching because it is Kobe,” said Ed Coleman, professor at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University and a specialist in security sciences.
Bryant, his 13-year-old daughter, Gianna, and six other passengers were flying from Orange County for a youth basketball tournament at their Mamba Sports Academy in Ventura County on January 26, 2020, when the helicopter encountered thick fog in the Valley of San Fernando north of Los Angeles. There was no sign of mechanical failure, said the NTSB.
The NTSB, which met remotely on Tuesday, has no supervisory powers. He can only send suggestions to agencies like the Federal Aviation Administration or the United States Coast Guard, who have repeatedly rejected the recommendations after other disasters.
Some observers have argued that helicopters are recommended to have a Terrain Awareness and Alert System, a device that signals when an aircraft is in danger of collision. The helicopter in Bryant’s crash did not have the system, which the NTSB recommended as mandatory for helicopters. The FAA only requires air ambulances.
Federal lawmakers sponsored the Kobe Bryant and Gianna Bryant Helicopter Safety Act to order devices on all helicopters that carry six or more passengers. Former NTSB president James Hall said he expected the FAA to demand the systems as a result of the crash.
“Historically, high-profile tragedies are needed to advance regulatory control,” he said.
The devices cost more than $ 35,000 and require training and maintenance.
The Helicopter Association International discouraged what it called a “one-size-fits-all” method. President and Chief Executive James Viola said in a statement that requiring specific equipment for the entire industry would be “ineffective” and “potentially dangerous”.
Even though Zobayan was flying at low altitude in a mountainous area, the warning system may not have prevented the accident, Coleman said. The terrain may have triggered the “constantly triggered” alarm and distracted the pilot or led to lower the volume or ignore it, he added.
Federal investigators said that Zobayan, an experienced pilot who used to fly in Bryant, may have “misperceived” the angles at which he was descending and tilting, which can occur when a pilot becomes disoriented in low visibility, according to NTSB documents.
The other dead were Orange Coast College baseball coach John Altobelli; his wife, Keri; his daughter Alyssa; Christina Mauser, who helped Bryant coach her daughter’s basketball team; and Sarah Chester and her daughter Payton. Alyssa and Payton were Gianna’s teammates.
The accident led to lawsuits and counter-actions. On the day that a grand funeral ceremony was held at the Staples Center, where Bryant played most of his career, Vanessa Bryant sued Zobayan and the companies that owned and operated the helicopter for the negligence and unfair deaths of her husband and daughter. Families of other victims sued the helicopter companies, but not the pilot.
Vanessa Bryant said that Island Express Helicopters, which operated the aircraft, and its owner, Island Express Holding Corp, did not adequately train or supervise Zobayan. She said the pilot was careless and negligent when flying in the fog and should have aborted the flight.
Zobayan’s brother said that Kobe Bryant was aware of the risks of flying in a helicopter and that his survivors are not entitled to damage to the pilot’s property. Island Express Helicopters denied responsibility and said the accident was “an act of God” that it could not control. He also countered two FAA air traffic controllers, saying that the accident was caused by his “series of erroneous acts and / or omissions”.
The counter-claim states that a controller has unduly denied Zobayan’s request for “flight tracking” or fogging radar assistance. Officials said the controller terminated the service because the radar could not be maintained at the altitude at which the aircraft was flying.
According to the lawsuit, the controller said it would lose radar and communications soon, but the radar contact was not lost. When a second controller took over, the lawsuit said the first controller had failed to inform him of the helicopter and, since the radar services had not been shut down properly, the pilot believed he was being tracked.
Vanessa Bryant also sued the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department, accusing deputies of sharing unauthorized photos of the crash site. California now has a state law that prohibits such conduct.